Tenderness Hidden in Pain
by Nova-Author
Summary: Though, as time grew, Stein also began to grow stronger, well, physically and mentally, and by mentally stronger, that basically means that he had his own emotions lay dormant, he had himself isolate his feelings from the rest of the world, which meant he never cried nor smiled after his and Spirit's first witch hunt. He understood now why Spirit missed when he had emotion.


It had been a long week for the worn out biology teacher. He had been taking his job more seriously lately, though that didn't stop him from fooling around or scaring some of the students occasionally. Though, he was dressing more casually lately, dropping the lab coat a few times and switching it for a suit and tie, but that was only on occasion when he had to wash his lab-coat, and it embarrassed him when he wore the dressy outfit instead of what he usually wore.

The hoary-haired man had gotten home late that night. He knew that Spirit was coming home tonight from the hunt he had been on. Stein had been generally worried for his partner, wishing that he could have gone with the handsome ruby-haired man. He hadn't seen him since the night when Spirit kissed him. Heck, he wasn't sure if Spirit did it on purpose or on accident.

The stitched doctor decided to take a shower that night, a well deserved one at the least. The sandalwood and rose scent that lingered from his body-wash and shampoo lingered.

Going to his room, the towel still wrapped cozily around his body, he leisurely got dressed, not really in a rush. The scientist, in all honesty, was probably the most exhausted man on this planet at the moment. His classes were odd, given that there was a half-witch, a keishen, three children with unique abilities, an almost death-weapon, and they all had an attitude to go along with it. They were spunky compared to Maka's years. Brushing his fingers through his coarse hair, he put on the rest of his clothes, which consisted of the black pants and the black shoes that he usually wore, though he decided on a white dress shirt, given that his lab coat was dirty from teaching the children how to dissect a cat, and let's just say that things didn't go as planned, and one of the organs kind of, well, popped. Sighing, he grabbed a blue striped tie and properly put it on, though the sensation from the fabric was still unfamiliar to the odd-ball man.

His hair dry by now, he really didn't bother to brush it, just allowing it to fall messily into his eyes, not really seeing any problem with his shaggy gray hair. Now that Stein thought about it, how was he going to tell that he was getting old? Would his silver hair turn white instead of silver? Or would he start getting black hairs? He'd think about that later. He hated how the years flied by, heck, Spirit was nearly forty, and Stein was almost 37, his birthday coming up soon. He huffed quietly, buttoning the shirt with ease, though, it was really too hot outside, which made the inside of his house hot, so he decided to leave the first three button of his shirt left undone, and he turned on the air conditioner. Taking the black towels that he used to dry himself, her folded them before putting them in the hamper for the time being, along with his folded lab-coat. Despite him being a savage biology educator, he was actually a tidy man, and preferred things organized and neat.

Earlier, he had set up a small meal for Spirit for when he returned. He had told Spirit before he left to come to his house when he came back, so they could talk. He sighed and left a note near the food that read:

[I] _I figured that you would be hungry when you returned, so I laid out a dish for you. I'm only leaving out this note, because knowing me, I'll probably be asleep by the time you get here. If I'm asleep like I had already stated before, feel free to wake me up…actually, it would be most appreciated if you woke me up. –Stein. _[/I]

After that, he went over to the couch and laid down on his back, crossing his legs tiredly and folding his arms behind his head, looking up at the ceiling. His glasses sat on the table in front of the couch. The only thing that was really lighting the room was a lamp, which was in the corner of the living room, and a small candle that was on the shelves near the staircase that Stein always had lit. The candle was scented a chamomile scent, and that was generally because the scent made him relaxed, and calmed him down, though the side effects making him rather lethargic. Along that shelves were also a few pictures. One picture was one that Spirit took when they were around the tender age of nine, when Stein was with his family. His mother had long white hair that draped down to her mid-thigh, and she had the clearest crystal blue eyes that Stein had ever seen. It also had a his father in it, he was a tall man, just like Stein grown up to be, he had short, choppy black hair, and large yellow eyes, though, the most distinct thing about it, was the fact that his father had the same stitches going down the side of his face. And then there was Stein's baby sister. She was a silver-haired child, and she had gorgeous blue eyes. Though the thing is, all of them are dead now. During their first skirmish with Medusa, when Stein had lost his grip and told Medusa a bit about himself, about how doctors tried to figure out if there was something in his past that made him like this, trying to find something that led up to his violent tendencies, maybe if his family had died, or if someone he loved had passed, he said that wasn't the reason. Sure, his family dying wasn't the reason. His father was the reason that Stein thought that it was okay to hurt other people. His dad was insane, he was the one who caused the marks that laced Stein's body like a second skin. People had always thought that maybe the crazy biologist had tried to do experiments to himself. Not that they were wrong, but those stitches that marred his face and body weren't caused by him, but by his father. Something had snapped in the man one day, and he hurt Stein unintentionally, almost killing his own son. Which was why they were younger, and on their first witch hunt, Stein was too dizzy to get up, because his head still hurt from the pain that was caused from all the stitches and from the infection that he had in his body, which overall drove him crazy. After the witch hunt was when Stein started to drastically change for the worse, Stein had become mentally weak, and his madness grew to its uncontrollable measures that were beyond anything that most people could deal with, except for Spirit, Lord Death, and others like Marie, of whom could soothe madness. The infection had spread like a wildfire through his veins after the stitches, and everything that happened with his father. Though Stein had lied to Spirit, and told him that he did it to himself. He knew that Spirit probably had his suspicions, but he wasn't comfortable with telling him what had really happened. Now, as for his mother and sister, his sister hardly lived past her first year alive, dying of a disease. His mother, who had the disease when the child was born, had also died about five years after his baby sister. As for his father, well, his fate wasn't all that pretty either. As for the next picture that was on the shelf, it was a picture of him and Spirit in their teens, one that his mother had taken before she died. Stein had fallen asleep in the hospital room after their witch hunt, and after the doctors checked him over, and Spirit was there by his side the whole time, cradling him in his lap. That picture always reminded Stein how much Spirit really cared. Though, as time grew, Stein also began to grow stronger, well, physically and mentally, and by mentally stronger, that basically means that he had his own emotions lay dormant, he had himself isolate his feelings from the rest of the world, which meant he never cried nor smiled after his and Spirit's first witch hunt. He understood now why Spirit missed when he had emotion. Stein had also missed these emotions, which now he'd only express to Spirit and Spirit only, reserving everything that he could express only for the ruby-haired male. The other picture on the shelf was a picture that Spirit had taken, of Stein holding baby Maka, when Kami wasn't around of course, if Spirit had let Stein hold Maka without her knowing and she found out, she would have probably slit his throat. Along the lines of the other picture, there was one that didn't really add up to date, and that was one that was taken 10 years ago, when the Keishen fight had been over, and Marie had her ultrasounds. Those were some pictures that he framed only about three months ago, having an argument with Marie over the pictures, given that she refused to give him any of the pictures from when the baby was still inside of her, and was still living, the only reason why Stein had them was because Lord Death had commanded Marie to give him the pictures, because Stein refused to do his work without having at least on of the pictures. Stein actually lost his cool demeanor in the school, which was one of the rarest things, given that he was often aloof, and uncaring towards everyone else, he was just kind of ominous, but when Marie didn't allow him to have at least one picture of their child, it drove him crazy, and he had every right to be upset about it. Stein didn't tell anyone, but the child didn't actually have his genetics, the only reason why Marie was pregnant was because she had requested Stein to do a surgery that would make it so that she was pregnant(I'm pretty sure you all know what I'm talking about, I just don't want to go into specifics), which made it so that Stein wasn't actually the legit father, or even related to the child in any way, shape, or form, though Marie insisted that Stein fathered the child, so that the child had a father it knew, and Stein had grown to consider himself as a father, and felt just as connected to the child, if not more, than Marie. Marie had no clue how much he wanted a child, how he wanted a spouse, how he wanted to raise a child, and live a happy life, it made him happy when he knew that he was going to father, and she still didn't understand how much it hurt him when the child died. She had no clue how much it actually affected him. No one did. Stein never talked about the situation, only keeping the thoughts in his head, not even wanting to talk about it. Another picture on the shelf was a picture of Stein holding baby Black Star, with a completely clueless look on his face, wondering why he was holding the blue-haired child, also wondering why they had to keep the child and not kill it at the time. And the last picture that was on the shelf was a picture that Sid had taken, about eight years ago, when Maka had graduated from the DWMA, and him, Spirit, and Sid had gone to New York, outside of Death City, to go see the ball drop on New Years, the picture had him and Spirit in it, and Spirit had grabbed Stein by the front of his shirt and pulled him over and kissed his cheek when the ball dropped. Stein didn't really bring up what happened at the ball drop, because he wasn't going to hold it against the man, given that everyone around them, no matter what gender, was giving kisses and hugs as the ball dropped. The rest of the things on the shelf were books, and a few cases of who even knows what.

Sighing, looking over the pictures made him smile lightly, the memories from long ago made him happy, at least those pictures, did. Stein yawned lethargically. He remembered how deep down inside of him, how he had always wanted a child of his own, to raise one, to live with a happy family, grow up with someone he loved and just live a happy life. Though he knew that was never going to happen, even if he were to adopt a child. Who would want a father who looks like the walking dead? The thought made Stein cringe. The doctor had always thought of himself as ugly, personality wise and physically. The biologist had a habit of being too hard on himself all of the time, though he tried to make it seem like he didn't have any insecurities. He sighed as the metal bolt in his head chilled the side of his arm where it rested, which also reminded him of how much of a freak he was.

Pushing those bad thoughts away, Stein smiled lightly, thinking about the fact hat he'll be able to see his partner soon, and hug him, and tell him about the school, and how much he missed him. Wait… how much he missed him? Stein blinked a few times, and then blushed to himself. He really did love Spirit. Stein rolled his eyes to himself before closing his eyes and drifting to sleep lazily, waiting for Spirit's arrival, not bothering to keep the door unlocked, given that Spirit knew how to get into his house.

Stein actually looked peaceful as he slept, his face was lax, hair falling messily in the front of his lightly closed eyes. All of his muscles were eased, his arms loosely folded behind his head. One leg propped up on the opposite arm of the couch from where his arms were, the other leg softly crossed across the slightly raised leg that was lodged on the arm of the couch. The only thing that almost ruined his cuteness as he slept was the bolt that was lodged in his skull, and the stitches that wound around his body and spread disease almost every winter. Well, the stitches always seemed to be the lead source of infection, and Stein always had a blood infection during the winter, between the months of January and February. His pale, upper lip twitched lightly in his sleep. Groaning groggily, rolling onto his side, he rolled to face the couch, snuggling into the blanket that lightly veiled him, shuddering a bit. You see, Stein loved cold weather, or just cold temperatures, so that when he slept, he could get warm and cozy under the blankets. That was the only way that he could sleep. By the time that Stein had snuggled under his blankets, the house was about fifty degrees, which was twelve degrees under normal temperatures for houses, but that's the way that Stein enjoyed it. Mumbling a bit in his sleep, this was an actually quite rare thing that Stein did. The doctor hardly, nearly never talked in his sleep, and it was almost unheard of, even from Marie, who had lived in his house for maybe a year, the only person who heard Stein mumble, scream, or just talk in his sleep was Spirit, and that was because they had know each other almost their whole lives, and they had shared rooms, even beds during their missions, though the next thing that slipped through Stein's plush lips was somewhat also unheard of, except to Spirit's ears, the words had only fallen on Spirit's ears anyways,

"I love you…Spirit."


End file.
